5 games we’re dying to see get a sequel: From The Last of Us to Red Dead Redemption

Taking into account how regularly we insist that we need more new IPs in this industry, it’s funny to see how much we love a sequel.

And why not? Whereas exploring the depths of a fresh world can be thrilling, getting a follow-up to one of your favourite games is a different kind of elation.

A recent Hot Topic asked which sequels you’d like in the future, but the conversation’s only becoming timelier after another Borderlands was just announced. So let’s do a bit of wishful thinking: here are five games I’d like to see have another crack of the whip.

1. Red Dead Redemption

Rockstar Games received another feather in its cap with this staggeringly good wild-west adventure. The recipe behind it was a memorable one. Possessing the same open-ended maps, randomised events and combat as its modern cousin Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption stood on its own two feet with horseback traversal and the sense of adventure provided by its evocative environments.

Scratching an itch I never knew I had, I’m keen to see where the franchise is taken next with retrospect and experience. Then, contemplating what next-gen machines could do with the game’s already beautiful landscapes is mind-boggling.

2. XCOM: Enemy Unknown

If there was one thing guaranteed to break a gamer’s heart during 2012, it was losing a squad of soldiers during XCOM’s uncompromising levels. Bolstered by the ability to customise units howsoever you chose, the effect of perma-death was a powerful tool because each loss was a personal one (you’d have to possess a cold heart not to feel attached to characters you’d survived countless operations with).

Supplemented by tactically thrilling gameplay, this was a revelation thanks to tense missions and pitch-perfect mechanics. The prospect of all-new scenarios makes me miserable a full sequel hasn’t happened already.

3. Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag

The unashamed piracy Black Flag revolved around was a resuscitation of the franchise for me; donning the white hood again was a very different experience when the assassination of targets became sidelined in favour of finding fortune on the ocean. Pillaging a map full of dangerous ships was fun in a very wicked sort of way, so it’d be criminal not to explore the idea further.

I’ve lost hours to robbing boats already, so I’d be interested indeed in where Ubisoft could take that core concept next with the experience gained here.

4. Fez

There was something magical about Fez. Combining a rare hat-trick of retro beauty, intelligence and gripping exploration, it had charisma to spare. There was never a shortage of challenges to wrap your brain around, not with the manipulation of 2D/3D perspectives and some incredibly clever puzzles (or mysterious languages to decode).

Taking that creativity to the next level would be ideal, but sadly it’s an unlikely dream. Developer Phil Fish left the games industry last year, and it was announced that Fez II had been cancelled afterward.

5. The Last of Us

There was so much left unsaid at the end of Naughty Dog’s post-apocalyptic journey, and I can see the consequences of this becoming a great story should they choose to dip back into that world. The character development, performances and dialogue of The Last of Us might as well have been without reproach, so more of the same isn’t exactly a bad thing.

And those clickers? They made zombies scary again, while cobbling together tools from scavenged materials was appealing in its own right. Another would probably be terrifying, but entirely justified.

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